Tang Tao's Old Style Poetry Writing
In the history of Chinese literature in the 20th century, Tang Tao was first known as a prose writer, especially a essayist, and then as a modern literary historian. Novels and new poems are occasionally written in very few quantities. In comparison, the writing of old-style poems takes longer and the number is several times greater.
Tang Tao's early poems were collected as "Tang Tao Poems" in 1932, and he has reviewed the process of writing old poems in his preface: he began to practice old poems at the age of twelve, and began to study lyrics at the age of seventeen. But soon he turned away from old literature to find new ways. It can be seen that "Tang Tao Poems and Grass" is a summary of the old poems in one stage. There are three points in his preface that deserve attention: First, he regards poetry as the soul of the universe and a symbol of everything gestating. This concept is quite mysterious in the supremacy of symbolist poetry. The second is that he thinks the poet was a person who stumbled upon the secrets of the universe and called it out through poetry writing. "Because you can't call it until you see it, the poetry of experience is much smarter than that of genius." Special emphasis was placed on the intermediary role of experience in revealing the essence of the universe, and he pushed his poems away from the mystery and unsolvability of symbolism. The third is that he called the practice of old poetry an "automatic" behavior, because the school has changed the new school system. The foundation of his old literature is very thin. When he began to practice old poems, he only read more than two dozen "Guanwenguanzhi", half of "The Analects", and half of "Mencius". Under the hood, there are old poetry exercises that are not enough, but they mean self-preservation. Whether he is self-respecting or self-precious, his statement is true and credible.
The old style poems of this period are mostly themes of sad spring and autumn accompanied by changes in the phenology, wandering life experience, and condolence and mourning for historical figures or relatives around them. Therefore, spring rain, falling flowers, autumn wild, autumn rain, autumn frost, autumn night, autumn day, moon night, night rain, passenger journey, wild residence, wandering, Hanjiang, Zhengyan, Qinhuai River, Xiangwang Temple, Yu Ji tomb often appear in poetry The image of the dead sister, etc., can be said to have written the loneliness of the young people, the rise and fall of history, the reality of life and death. For example, "Small yard night cold rain hits plantains, so sadly picks travel lights. Who is like me? I will spend Jiangnan wind and rain" ("Night Rain"), it is dense night, travel worry, lonely lights, wind and rain, Jiangnan, etc. The imagery, which highlights the poet's deep loneliness and tragic poetry, is a typical early work. A 12-year-old boy who lived away from his hometown to study in Shanghai gave him more than can be oversuppressed. Fortunately, the writing of old poems can relieve and balance, so as not to break down life or spirit. However, in the preface of "Tang Tao Poems and Grass", he said that he used to write old poems in his early years is very secret, even if found by teachers will be ridiculed, so the writing of old poems in memory is almost a kind of almost solitary life, artistic experience, It can't really relieve his distress. This should be the fundamental reason that made him determined to abandon his old poems and find a new path to literature. This situation also profoundly illustrates how severe the conflict between new and old literature and how strong the exclusivity of new literature is in an era when the fashion of the times and the literary aesthetic expression has undergone a sharp turn.
It was not long after Tang Tao gave up the writing of old poems, and it was not enough to be thorough and decisive. In 1937, six years later, he regained the writing of old poems. This year, he wrote "Sunset" and "Reading Notes". The former mocked the world under the occupation of the Japanese invaders, and the latter mocked the Wenwang under the Kuomintang. After that, he wrote old poems at the rhythm of one or two or three or four every year. Only 1942, 1946, 1981 and 1982 have more than 5 poems, which is worth explaining. 1942 was his standing year. He wrote a series of four "Thirty Firsts", and three poems of mourning and trauma, totaling seven. In 1946, Tang Tao married Yan'er and took a bride to Hangzhou for a vacation. He wrote 6 poems on the lake. In early spring, he once toured West Lake with Ke Ling and Shi Tuo. He wrote "Huai Yu Dafu", "Scholar" and "Shou Zhude General"; this year, he had as many as 13 old poems. In 1981, for the "Chinese Modern Literature Symposium" held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tang Tao wrote "Four Topics in Hong Kong", and recorded a grand preface to the grand occasion, saying: "Students at home and abroad, get together and talk about art , Exchange academics. Yu Gong and the grand meeting, old rain and new knowledge, talk quickly. Zhu Jun sing and pay right, straight to chase Yuan Bai, because of the four chapters, do not dare to speak poetry, chat to remember Sheng Yuner. "By A brief introduction to the classical Chinese can intuitively indicate that Tang Tao had full academic exchanges at this meeting. The old rain and the new knowledge got along happily and gave each other poems. Therefore, the poetry flourished. In 1982, he wrote 9 old-style poems, most of which were the works of visiting the old and remembering the travels. Among them, "Traveling in the Half River of the Li River", "Traveling in the Old City of Qinghai and Friends in the Middle of the Mountains" and "Songs of the City" are all half-written. Bai's small preface, especially the "Preliminary Tour of the Lijiang River" emphasizes his position in writing poems, Yun said: "Poetry is to me, it comes with feelings, it comes with fate, it is not strong." I think this can be As the basic attitude of Tang Tao towards the writing of old-style poems after 1937, his approach to writing poems and rhythm of writing followed this position, and there have been no major changes in decades.
By the end of 1988, "A Little Poem Wishing the Tenth Anniversary of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences", the total number of later poems reached 92. In the ten years from 1947 to 1956, no old-style poems were written. In the more than ten years before and after the "Cultural Revolution", apart from the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan (1965) and the death of Chen Yi (1972), each of them also wrote in other years. Very little. After reviewing the history of writing old poetry 51 years after 1937, it can be concluded that Tang Tao no longer devotes himself to writing old poetry, that is, he no longer pursues and manages writing old poetry as a vocation. Impromptu or just enjoy. Of course, this is not to say that his old poems have no sustenance and no social care. On the contrary, because of his richer life and cultural accumulation, his works have more mature minds and artistic skills, plus gradual improvement The influence of the literary world and the guarantee of material life have become rich, solid, wise and mature. In the past 50 years, he has completely experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, and a decade of turmoil, and there are also life and death of his loved ones. Go the opposite way. For example, "Sudi Stroll", one of "Miscellaneous Poems on the Lake", was written in his newly-married travel: "The water is full of smiles, and this kind of gentleness is rare in the world. In 20 years, I made an appointment with Hushan, and the sword returned. Not only the gentle joy of the newly married Yan'er, but also the enthusiasm for the youth to travel the world, Tang Tao was 33 years old this year. Look at "Zhejiang Poems" the second "On the Xin'anjiang Dam", Shi Yun: "Laughing at Qinguan and Hanguan, Hengjiang locks thousands of mountains. Going back to heaven to show his heroes, he will stay in two bright rooms ”” There is a magnificent pride and historical optimism in the period of the Republic ’s primitive period. The magnificence of the spirit is better than that of the past, and it is a psalm that resonates with the poet ’s personality. Even in his later years, he knew that he was old, but he still wrote "full of Jiangnan Nanchi grass green, re-examination of Zhu Mo Zuo Chunhua" ("Hong Kong's four questions" two "sense"), in physiological age and The tension of the mental age maintains the charm of personality and the vitality of the spirit.
In 1937, as a watershed in the writing of Tang Tao's old-style poems, there were two differences before and after. The first was that the early poems could not be dated. , But ranked in 1960, other works have clear writing time, it can be seen that although Tang Tao did not write much, but every time he did, he was very solemn and cherished. The second is that the later poems often have classical Chinese or half-text and half-white prefaces, but the early works are all bare white text. The existence of Xiao Xu not only relates to the understanding of the work, but also shows the background, mood and temperament of the author's creation, but also increases the communication between the author and the reader, and also enhances the fun of reading. In January 1982, when writing an inscription for "Two Songs of Huangshan" written on September 1, 1976, he even once again experienced self-doubt and self-question between the new poem and the old poem, and decided to give up the writing of the old poem: "New literati Old poems, well-written sentences, and nothing to sculpt, but push Yu Dafu and Tian Shouchang. Yu Yi occasionally did it, Zhou Gu old Xu Yineng poetry, since he was only poor, shame to the former virtue. I saw that because of the new poetry movement for more than sixty years, I went back to the old road and ended up being unrighteous. I decided to wash my hands to thank the gentlemen of Hainai. " Not only have they read extensively, but they have also met with praise and deprecation. With a little scrutiny, it is not difficult to find his dissatisfaction, rather than dissatisfaction with writing new poems by new literati, it is better to dissatisfaction with some of the evil customs of singing and singing. The so-called "washing hands to thank gentlemen in the sea" means more to keep oneself away from the evils of vulgarity, and not to go with it. Therefore, he did not interrupt the writing of old poems after this inscription. Therefore, this inscription can better reflect his conduct and taste in writing old-style poems.
(Author: Xiao Guodong, Yulin Normal University Department of Literature and Media School professor)